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Swimming sea cucumber
Enypniastes eximia
Sea cucumbers resemble large, leathery slugs that typically amble across the seabed. Unusually, Enypniastes has developed webbed swimming structures at the front and back of the body, and can swim long distances of up to 1,000m (3,280 ft) up into the water column.
Statistics
Sea cucumbers can grow to 30cm in length.
Physical Description
They are brilliant red in colour, with a soft, delicate, transparent body, through which their intestine and other internal organs are visible.
Their mouths are surrounded by tentacles which are used to gather sediment from the sea floor.
Distribution
Swimming sea cucumbers are found in all oceans.
Habitat
They are generally found on the sea floor, from depths of 500-5000m (1,640-16,404 ft), but can swim long distances upwards through the water.
Diet
Sea cucumbers feed on bottom sediment which they stuff into their mouths with tube feet surrounding their mouths.
Behaviour
They are usually found on the sea floor, eating mud or sandy sediments to get at the attached organic material.
Sea cucumbers are capable of swimming up from the bottom by undulating the cape-like structure around the top of the animal. They are graceful, slow swimmers.
When attacked by predators, they produce bioluminescence across their entire body surface, before shedding the sticky glowing skin as a distraction ploy.
Conservation status
They are not considered threatened
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